Seven
by rachellephant
Summary: ...Deadly sins, that is.
1. Lust I

**01. Lust.**

Love at first sight didn't exist. Shikamaru knows this. He might have thought it did, once, when he was a child — but that was before he met Temari.

"So _you_'re the guide." It's a statement, not a question. Her voice is flat and cold like an iceberg. He doesn't know if she is aware that she sounds angry, but the stoniness of her words doesn't hit his preoccupied mind very hard. Moreover, what hits him _hard_ is how much of a woman she is.

She has matured since the last time he saw her, which was around three years ago. Yes, she has matured a _lot_. And suddenly, for a very brief moment, Shikamaru believes in love at first sight — what else could this swooping feeling in his stomach be? He's struck so abruptly by this gorgeous woman in front of him that all of his thoughts are narrowed down to her, and just her, forgetting the coldness of her voice and focusing only on the gentle curve of her hips and the gracious way she simply _exists_.

Her eyes are pretty despite their narrowness. She is almost a head shorter than him but he can still see the blue-green color of her irises: It looks like water and earth have been mixed together in a bowl, shaking, rumbling, like an earthquake, but at the same time they are still and shimmery, like a pond. They are rimmed by thick lashes as blonde as her hair, and when she blinks they brush her cheeks, which are freckled, but just barely. Her neck is long and slender, and connects to her sharply defined collar bone in a graceful but powerful way. Shikamaru feels tainted and dirty for it, but he can't stop looking at her — he doesn't _want_ to stop looking at her.

She has long legs, slender, sleek, and muscular, with thighs that blend gracefully into her hips; they are cocked to one side as she studies him furiously. The type of clothing she's wearing is not risqué, but rather very covering, overlapping everything important enough to make Shikamaru's sixteen-year-old mouth water.

He's being indecent and he knows it, but as his eyes travel up and over her stomach, her bust, and her perfect angular shoulders he feels that this is somehow worth the vehement expression that her face has settled into.

"What?" she snaps. Her voice is sharp and cold again, colder than before. He wonders what it sounds like to hear that voice in a different context, a softer context, smooth and supple, flowing over his bare skin as his hand flow over hers. He feels dirty again.

They stand there staring at each other for a while. Shikamaru still can't tear his eyes from her. Temari seems to get angrier and angrier, and after a bit she says, "Idiot" in a chilly, biting voice, scowls brilliantly, and turns to stalk away.

Still enjoying the view, Shikamaru rolls over the prospect of love at first sight again in his mind. Of course, he reasons, this couldn't be that, because to love someone you'd have to actually know them first. And he didn't know her. Yet.

No, this definitely _was_n't love at first sight, concludes Shikamaru with a smirk that would make his mother ashamed. But he has never felt lust before and he finds it just as enjoyable.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ REVIEW! Please! Don't just favorite and run! FAVORITING AND RUNNING IS NOT NICE! It doesn't take that much effort to push that little button and leave me some love~! :D

In other news, this will be a fourteen-part installment of Shikamaru and Temari and how they implement the seven deadly sins into their relationship for each other. So yeah. There's a chapter for each sin for each of them. Seven plus seven equals fourteen, geddit?

Up next: **Gluttony**. You will stick around, won't you?


	2. Gluttony I

**02. Gluttony**

Ahh, peace. Eyes closing easily, Shikamaru feels he would give anything to only be able to stay up here on this grassy hill with the wind brushing his cheeks and the soft air surrounding him, no noises to disturb such a blissful, gentle moment — but fate will not have it. Rather, Temari will not have it.

He hears her voice before the words are spoken. Sharp. Condescending. Brittle. Worse, he can tell she's already right next to him, so he doesn't have any time to mentally prepare himself for the abuse that's sure to follow. Goodbye wonderful, quiet moment. I'll miss you.

"Oi, Crybaby."

Shikamaru gives an exaggerated sigh. Apparently Temari doesn't like that, so she kicks him until he opens his eyes.

"Troublesome woman," is the only response he has as he sits up, wincing, and holds his ribcage where she made the harsh contact. Probably a bruise forming already. Grimacing, he throws out his other arm to post himself into a sitting position on the hill; he frowns up at her, a sigh falling lazily through his lips.

Ignoring his pain and agitation, Temari crouches next to him and holds out a plain, scarlet-colored box. "I made you cookies."

Looking at her skeptically, he takes the box; Temari watches him intently until he opens it and pulls one out. There is a badly drawn picture in icing on its crumbling surface.

"What's with the pineapple?"

"That's not a pineapple. It's your face."

"Oh."

As Temari scowls, he puts the cookie between his lips, slowly and cautiously at first, as though she might have poisoned them. When he realizes that he is not foaming at the mouth and his windpipe still works properly he chews and finds that the cookie tastes quite good. Delicious, even. It has cinnamon in it; he wonders when she learned that it was his favorite.

He takes another one after the first is finished. Satisfied, Temari grins at him as he eats before she stands and walks away without another word. He doesn't watch her leave, but instead keeps eating the delicious cinnamon cookies. He knows that she is a terrible cook, but these taste marvelous — how much time exactly did she spend on these? And why for him, a no-good lazy idiot?

It's not like he represents anything special to her. So for her to make cookies for him on such a random occasion either means one of two things: a) she spiked them with something dangerous and it's her idea of a funny prank, or b) she just genuinely _wanted_ to. The latter seems like the more unlikely of the two, but that's what Shikamaru is forced to conclude, seeing as he already was able to rule out the first idea.

Taking another cookie, he mulls over the ugly picture of himself in vanilla icing. Vanilla. Also his favorite. He doesn't ever remember telling her this, but somehow she knows these small, unimportant things about him. Thoughtfully, he takes a bite, enjoying its sweet flavor.

He finds himself thinking, begrudgingly, that he would never stop eating these wonderful cookies if Temari didn't come back a second later and tell him to save some for his goddamn family, you gluttonous bastard.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ I really appreciate all the nice reviews from the last chapter! Thanks so much, guys. You could review again if you want. ;) I know you all have much better things to do than review my story and just want to favorite and get the hell out, ha ha. Honestly though.

Oh, and I know it was kind of confusing to some people how Shikamaru's Gluttony came next instead of Temari's Lust, but don't worry. It's all planned out. The way I'm writing it is completely under control. Also, I should probably mention that this story doesn't have a plot. It's just several one-shots centering around the seven deadly sins. However, the sins are arranged in the order I feel they'd happen in their relationship (first from Shikamaru's point of view, obviously, and then Temari's from start to finish again, once I get to her chapters). They're also arranged in chronological order from when Shikamaru and Temari aren't together to when they are, so keep that in mind.

Also, I realize that the pineapple comment was TOTALLY CLICHÉ. XD But I had to put it in. It called to me.

Up next: **Greed**. Stay tuned.


	3. Greed I

**03. Greed**

"Okay," Tsunade begins, her golden eyes fixed upon the clipboard clenched in her long-nailed fist. "We have all the proctors we need for _this _year, but just barely… I am _not _going to have another massive screw up again next year, is that understood?"

The shinobi in the room mumble agreements and nod half-heartedly; Shikamaru wonders privately how on earth they're going to side-step another haphazard presentation with the next Chuunin exams coming up so fast. They're only six more months away; the one that had just passed was a complete fiasco (though they managed to pull off "completely under control" to all the other villages… how, he'll never know).

As if to answer his question, Tsunade continues, "To avoid the confusing, who's-doing-what-when situation that we were in until recently, we've called this meeting to discuss the future Chuunin exams" — Shikamaru looks briefly at the comrades in this room; a few he had just worked with on the last Chuunin exam but some (like Kiba, who for some reason is lurking on the other side of the room and looking smug) haven't ever taken an interest in proctoring before now — "and choose who is going to proctor the next ones in advance to avoid a last minute scuffle."

At her words, Shikamaru's brain speeds into overdrive. He scored the position of being the Sand Ambassador's guide by sheer luck, but that didn't assure him a place in the same position next time the Chuunin exams rolled around. Suddenly he looks at Kiba, who watches Tsunade eagerly, and knows why he is here.

He thinks fast. How can he possibly assure his same position with all these people who he _knows _want to get the same one? Calling upon his photographic memory, he visualizes the list on Tsunade's clipboard — Shizune had showed him briefly earlier at the door. He remembers vaguely that Sunagakure's ambassador position is the first on the list to be filled, and Shikamaru knows full well that Tsunade, tired and agitated as she is at the moment, would take the first person who offers himself for the position, regardless of the fact that he, Shikamaru, is clearly the most qualified — how could he possibly secure his position — ?

"So," Tsunade cleared her throat, "Who would like to proctor the Chuunin exams this year?"

Making up his mind quickly, Shikamaru shoots his hand into the air faster than anyone else. There is a shout of laughter from across the room as more hands begin to rise timidly. Shikamaru feels embarrassed, but he refuses to let this show. He knows Kiba will never let him live it down. But Kiba's not very important right now.

"Very well." Tsunade scribbles something on her clipboard, the pencil clicking loudly. "Shikamaru, you will be working with the Sand Village's ambassador, Temari; Akida, you will be working with the Cloud Village's ambassador — "

Shikamaru catches Kiba's eye but looks away quickly. He knows there is an annoyed smirk already forming on the other's lips; a doglike grin that will probably hit him much harder once the meeting is over. Kiba definitely wouldn't let this go for a while. It was obvious from Shikamaru's unexpected enthusiasm what he was truly after.

Tsunade carries on with her assignments, but Shikamaru's mind is on other things, far beyond the scope of what he's supposed to be doing and rather what he _will _be doing… once Temari arrives again, of course.

He is being selfish and he knows it: The only reason he wants to proctor is so that he can have an excuse to see _her_. That is the only reason he even showed up this morning anyway. So he could seize this opportunity to keep her with him, and just him, and not any other Konoha man who might capture the post and, in turn, capture her interest. Like Kiba, for instance. He feels secretly triumphant to have caught this position first. Kiba, he knew, didn't stand a chance.

It's greedy to want her all to himself, but always has and (he thinks very privately) he probably always will.

* * *

_Author's Note: _Review! Because you love me, and you love my fan fictions. Review even if you don't like them. That's cool too. CC is always appreciated. But you guys know by now — don't favorite and run. ;)

I think I totally butchered the structure of Shikamaru's job. I mean, Tsunade gave the Sand Village ambassador's guide job to Shikamaru, so one would think it would stay with him instead of being random happenstance. But it was the only scenario I could think of without getting sexual. :) I'm happy with it.

Up next: **Sloth**. This one is what Shikamaru is guilty of, indefinitely. Muahah.


	4. Sloth I

**04. Sloth**

He's lazy. And he knows she hates it.

He lies on the wooden bench looking up at the sky, barely taking in the clouds and instead focusing on the angry Temari towering over him. Despite their dark shade of teal, her eyes are aflame, burning into him. But he's completely indifferent, as usual. This only manages to make her angrier.

"You are the slowest, laziest, most unenthusiastic person I have ever had the misfortune to meet," she spats, in the most condescending tone he has ever heard. It drips with hot dislike.

And then, after he gives her his usual look of bored contentment, she turns on her heel and stomps away, her footsteps echoing heavily on the stone sidewalk. He could follow her if he wanted to, probably catch up to her and stop her and apologize for being so apathetic… But what good would that do? He'd say he was sorry, but he wouldn't stop being the way he was. They both knew it.

And anyways, she will be back in a while. He isn't being overly-confident by assuming so; he simply knows, better than anyone perhaps, how Temari's mind works. This isn't the first time this has happened, after all. It's the usual routine; she demands more activity out of him, he denies in favor of napping, she explodes, storms off, and then is back sooner or later. It's usually sooner.

As if to deny his very thoughts, she screams "I'm leaving!" Despite the fiery, burning tone in her voice, her words are faint; she must be some distance away, but he's sure that all of Konoha can hear her yelling at him. He wonders for a moment what they — the citizens, who all undoubtedly know by now — think of their relationship at this point. The laziest young man in the world partnered with the most high-strung, extreme woman ever to walk the earth. But Temari drowns out his thoughts and continues to shout.

"I mean it Shikamaru; I'm leaving you and your laziness forever! I'm going back to Suna! I'm _not_ coming back!"

But ten minutes later, she has returned like he magnetically attracted her, speaking like she was never angry… as though the moment never happened. And he didn't even have to move a muscle.

Instead of rubbing it in her face, he simply sits up on the bench, rubs the aches out of the back of his neck, and smiles at her, trying to elicit some sort of smile back. When she finally lets a meek one peek through her stern expression, Shikamaru relaxes again, this time his head in her lap as she sits on the bench beside him, draped over him, her hands in his hair.

Being lazy, he thinks to himself as she leans forward to plant an apologetic kiss on his mouth, sometimes has its props after all.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ Reeeeevieewwwww. Now. Are you getting the hang of this yet?

Up next: **Wrath**. Oh um, I don't know how angry Shikamaru is liable to get compared to Temari (laugh) but I'll do my best.


	5. Wrath I

**05. Wrath**

Shikamaru's temper has been close to the surface since Asuma's death, and even though he has been smoking a lot more to calm himself down it isn't working. His mother pesters him constantly and he is sick of it; Tsunade always has something for him to do and he just wants to rest; the kids at the academy are becoming increasingly annoying; and Temari — oh, God, Temari.

He just wants her to leave him in peace. Of all people he has to be stuck with, she's the worst; she doesn't cut him a break, ever. It feels like a headache whenever she's around, and just because of the one thing that she is constantly nagging at him for —

"You're killing yourself," she says, glaring at the cigarette between his teeth. Shikamaru shrugs: On the inside he is burning with anger but he will not let her see. She doesn't know how much he needs this escape right now.

"Damn it, Shikamaru," she spits at his feet, and then stomps it into the ground as she steps closer to him. Her face is barely an inch from his, the cigarette almost touching her small nose. He does not move his ground, but Temari looks enraged. "Damn it. Do you know how _bad _that is for you?"

"I don't care." It's the truth.

Contemptuously, she holds up a box of cigarettes, nearly empty. "You bought these _yester_day," she snarls.

"So what if I did?" he challenges hotly, taking a step forward. Temari has no choice but to move back, lest the cigarette burn a hole in her skin. He makes a motion to grab the box from her but she swipes her hand out of his reach.

"I need them," he says through clenched teeth.

"And what the hell for?" she demands. "You're just hurting yourself. I'm going to make sure you don't, not anymore — You better enjoy that one in your mouth because it's your last — "

Suddenly, fury rips at his insides, tearing every part of him that it can reach.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE!" he bellows, advancing on her again. The anger thunders through him now, pulsing, pounding in his ears. His hands shake viciously. "You don't know… I was closer to him than _any_one else — he practically _raise_d me — he was more to me than — than— "

Asuma's face burns in his mind. Shikamaru is beside himself — fists clenched and expression lethal, he wrestles the beast inside him for control over his temper.

"I_ don't know_?" Temari whispers. Her voice a soft dagger, the point pressed to his neck dangerously. "_I_ don't know?!" Now she is shrieking. "Shikamaru, I know what that feels like to lose someone better than you will _ever_ know, and if you would just let_ me_ help instead of _kill_ing yourself with these_ stu_pid things, I would, but — " She's choking back something strangled in her throat now, and she doesn't finish her sentence. "Oh, just _have_ them — I am so _through_ trying to help."

She throws the cigarette box to the grassy floor with such a force that it breaks open and its contents fly out. With angry tears swimming in her eyes, Temari turns and storms away.

He watches her go, the anger still bubbling inside him, fainter and fainter, until finally it evaporates and he's left standing in the grass with nothing but a broken box of cigarettes at his feet.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ I hope I did the anger justice. Now go review! (I know, I ask too much of you, don't I?)

Up next: **Envy**. Oh, the possibilities.


	6. Envy I

**06. Envy**

Kiba, Shikamaru thinks privately, is an idiot.

At that moment, he, Shikamaru, currently approaches Temari's house, coming to pick her up because the Hokage needs to see her for an afternoon meeting. He has no real care in the world, his mind still lingering upon the peaceful afternoon cloud-watching that he was forced to abandon in favor of his troublesome duties, until he sees Temari and Kiba standing in front of the very door he is about to knock on. They haven't seen him yet, though, and so he lurks in the shadows to watch, inadvertently curious, as his fists clench and relax unconsciously in his pockets.

Something lurches crudely in his stomach as he sees Temari laugh at one of Kiba's jokes. Kiba looks sheepish and chuckles also, but Shikamaru suddenly longs to punch the boy in the gut. With difficulty, he keeps control of himself and continues watching. They talk more: Shikamaru watches their lips move and shape light conversation. Contemptuously, he notices how genuinely happy Temari seems to be as she converses with the slimy dog.

It becomes clear after a moment that Kiba is about to take his leave, and before he does he takes Temari's hand and brushes his lips very softly against her skin with bravado. Shikamaru feels anger rise in his throat like bile. What is that mutt playing at? And Temari — Shikamaru is shocked to see that she is slightly pink. _Pink_. In the cheek region.

Jealousy rattles through him as he steps out of the shadows, cups his hands around his mouth, and yells as loudly as he can,

"Hey, Temari!"

Kiba drops her hand and stands very erect, obviously taken aback at being interrupted. The two of them spot Shikamaru, now striding unusually quickly toward them, eager to break up whatever frivolity he had just witnessed transpiring. He feels kind of queasy, but at that moment it gives way to fierce adrenaline and a desperate, foreign anger for Kiba, despite the fact that they usually got on well together.

With satisfaction at the disappointment growing on Kiba's face, Shikamaru says loudly, "Tsunade wants to see you. Now. Urgent meeting. Sorry to interrupt." But he's not sorry at all.

Victorious, actually, would be the word.

Even more victorious when Temari walks away with him, her eyebrows disappearing into her bangs as she glances over her shoulder at Kiba slouching away, and says awkwardly, "He was coming on a little strong back there, don't you think?"

* * *

_Author's Note:_ You guys guessed right—it was Kiba. I supported Kiba/Temari for a while. I still like them. But Shikamaru/Temari takes the cake.

Up next: **Pride**. I have a great idea for this one.

You know what to do! VV


	7. Pride I

**07. Pride**

There have been many times when people have asked him, "Do you love her?"

This time, it's Chouji. They're at a petty party of the Kages, the once-every-few-years most of them meet in the middle with a guard and discuss politics and measly things that seem unimportant. Shikamaru and Chouji, part of Tsunade's guard (as if she needed one) lurk back in a corner of the room, but Shikamaru has been staring at the back of Temari's head as she converses with a Waterfall Ambassador about something-or-another. She, being the Suna Ambassador and Gaara's sister, is here along with her brother, sipping the offered tea and leaning up against a table casually, the sleek black dress hugging her hips and shoulders like it was made to fit them.

"Do you love her?"

Now, as Chouji, his best friend, inquires about his feelings, he glances over to her again, gazing at her for a full five seconds, taking in her natural born beauty. His heart thumps heavily in his chest cavity, faster and then slower, like a broken metronome, and he is flung into his memories as if by force.

He can feel every inch of her skin underneath his fingers; he can feel her mouth, smooth and warm, on his; he can smell her hair and her sweet scent clouding his air and making him dizzy; he can hear her laughter, her moans, her cries; he can hear her whispering his name against his neck and feel her breath; he can taste her sweet, honey-flavored lips; he can see her startlingly brilliant eyes not two inches away from his own before she dips her head and kisses his skin—it clutters in his senses, making him go momentarily crazy. Fighting the feeling is too hard: He wants her terribly, right now, before Suna can take her away again.

_Do you love her?_

And for a split second, he loses all sensibility: He's just a second away from abandoning this stupid party (which doesn't even have quality food, by the way) and stealing her away, taking her back to a hotel and just _ripping _into her. But Chouji's dim voice comes back to him.

"Well? Do you?"

Breaking from the daze like it never happened, Shikamaru turns back to his best friend. Chouji, who knows him so well, would surely be able to see through his answer, but he lets the words fall anyways, like he always does, in a static, bored voice, trying to believe they're true and yet knowing that they're so _not_.

"No, I don't."

He has too much pride to admit that he really does, but Chouji only gives him a very knowing smile, obviously not convinced, and nods in Temari's direction.

"You should let her know."

* * *

_Author's Note:_ That last line of Chouji's was directed at what Shikamaru did _not _say, in case that was unclear. All right, done with Shikamaru's seven, on to Temari's seven. :D

Up Next: **Pride**. Yes, pride again.


	8. Pride II

**07. Pride**

Temari is much too proud to admit to liking silly things that are beneath her. Like Konoha boys. One scrawny, pale, lazy-ass Konoha boy in particular.

He slouches toward her, his eyes half shut, his mouth opening wide into a yawn. Scoffing in disapproval, Temari leans against the doorframe, attempting to pull off cool and collected while waiting for him to hurry up and get over here, so they can take off toward the Chuunin exam building _finally._

Approaching slowly, Shikamaru says in his quiet, bored voice. "Are you ready?"

"Of course I'm ready, idiot," she says, straightening up and grabbing the door handle behind her to shut and lock the door. "Are _you _ready?"

"Well," Shikamaru drawls slowly; he lifts his arms up and stretches them, yawning again, as though he just woke up. "I could use another nap before we go." By the small tweak of the left hand corner of his mouth, she can tell he's joking. Trying to agitate her.

Temari has to push down her grin. He's not very funny but for some reason everything he says makes her want to laugh. She has no idea why; all she knows is that she absolutely _hates _it. But instead of succumbing she gives a huge snort and says, "Don't be lazy, Nara."

When she turns to march away from him, towards their destination, she hears him shout after her,

"Don't be proud, Temari!"

She has to swallow her amusement again, because it absolutely shouldn't make her happy that Shikamaru can see right through her. She has too much dignity and too much pride to sacrifice it all for him.

So she pretends he doesn't get to her and he doesn't understand her to protect that which she holds close. Because Temari's much too proud to admit to liking scrawny, pale, lazy-ass Konoha boys. Shikamaru in particular.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ I like Shikamaru's pride better, personally, but this one works.

Remember how a while ago I said that the story went in chronological order of how their relationship goes? Well there was Shikamaru's side of it, now here's Temari's, basically starting over.

Up next: **Envy**. Any guesses at what I'm going to do for this one? The best answer gets a cookie.


	9. Envy II

**06. Envy**

"How do you do that?"

"What are you talking about?"

She points viciously at him, almost poking him dead in the nose. "_That_."

Shikamaru gives her a slight smile accompanied with his habitual roll-of-the-eyes, but it's not unkind. "You're going to have to give me a few more clues then just '_that_', Temari."

Leaning closer, Temari continues to point at him, first at his half closed eyes, then at his lean arms, which are curled behind his neck, relaxed, then at his legs, casually crossed as he lays out, soaking up the sun's dutiful warmth. "All that," she says again, and when Shikamaru still watches her bemusedly, she rolls her eyes and asks him pointedly, "How do you be _you_?"

Surprise waves over Shikamaru's features, before it's replaced with a delicate smile that knows too much. Temari feels downright uncomfortable now that he's looking at her that way—that's the satisfied, smug smirk he always gives her when he thinks he has her figured out.

"You're not usually this enticed by me," he muses pleasantly, his dark-set eyes traveling over her face. She can feel them scrutinizing her, and she longs for him to look away, back up at the clouds where he always looks. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, he's choosing _now _to stare at her, his mouth still curved upward as though the situation is _funny. _Which it's not. At all.

"Don't flatter yourself," she scoffs, "You're not _enticing _me, stupid. Try _repulsing_."

As Shikamaru rolls his eyes again, Temari leans back on both her palms, shifting her weight to one arm and tilting her head at him, as though by angling her vision everything she longs desperately to know about him will spontaneously become clear. She knows it won't help, but even so, she watches him absorbedly, taking in everything about him from the sharp way his hair sticks out as his head rests against the grass to the way the spring sunlight tweaks his features, painting him softly, with dim gold circles in the center of his eyes as they reflect the sky above him.

Temari tries to find the words to describe him. Phrases like "annoying idiot" and "smug little bastard" come to mind, but somehow (even though she frequently calls him that) those idioms don't do him justice. They don't explain how he's so calm, or the way he simply _exists,_ able to detach himself from the world around him and just watch, from the outside, collected and calm and peaceful. He's the only person she knows who can sit in the center of a terrible trauma and just _be_, never betraying any emotion, just thinking and observing and subsisting.

Finally, Shikamaru succumbs to the imminence of her gaze, and he glances at her, sitting halfway up and propping himself on an elbow. "What is it, Temari?" His voice isn't annoyed, but it's flat and nonchalant. It's like she's very obviously hiding something from him and he knows she needs to get it out. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Inadvertently, her eyelashes flutter in surprise. "I'm not looking at you like anything. I'm just looking at you."

"Why?"

Because you're so calm, and it frustrates me. Because I want to be able to release all my irritations and just relax and live simply, like you do. Because even though you're a snot-nosed, know-it-all brat, you're just simply incredible. And I'd like to know how to be like that, because sometimes keeping everything inside is just _hard_. I'm just trying to figure you out, okay?

"You have something ugly on your head," she snorts, and when Shikamaru's hand flits up to brush his forehead, she adds sardonically, "Oh sorry, that was just your face."

"Oh ha-ha. You're hysterical."

Temari only smiles at him. She has no plans to relay her true inhibitions; instead, she'll probably just continue to study him and watch him, learning everything that he does and mimicking him, so that maybe someday she can sooth herself into a mood of complete disconnected tranquility and finally understand what makes this man what he is.

Because being like him seems so much _better_ than being like her, and she wants that. Desperately.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ For all of you who thought Ino was going to play a part in this, I did debate heavily on bringing her into it and having her wreak some havoc. But I decided that it would be less cliché and more appropriate for Temari to envy the things that make Shikamaru everything she's not, you know, play off of the insecurities I imagine my Temari (probably rather distant from canon!Temari) would have, and thus this was born. But don't despair. Ino will make her appearance. So review! :D

Up next: **Wrath**. Mwahahaha.


	10. Wrath II

**05. Wrath**

Heart hammering in her chest, Temari throws open her apartment door and slams it shut, retreating inside, going over what she just saw in her mind. Ino sitting upon Shikamaru's lap, arms slung around his neck, lips all over him. Fury pulses through her, but it's accompanied by some sort of deep, hollow sadness.

She sinks down to the floor, seating herself on the soft carpet, putting her fists to her temples and rubbing them gently in an attempt to soothe herself. It's pointless, though, and she knows it: She isn't about to forget _that_ scene. And every time she goes to that goddamn park again, she's going to think about the two of them sitting on that goddamn bench, doing those goddamn indecent things.

And _Shikamaru. _Temari could expect such explicit PDA from Ino, but she had thought that Shikamaru would have more dignity than that. Cradling her face in her palms, Temari realizes how wrong she was about Shikamaru and everything she thought she knew about him. The thought upsets her.

But Ino obviously knows him pretty damn well, Temari thinks viciously. They've never been on particularly bad terms, the two girls, but the moment Temari saw her kiss Shikamaru something snapped, and Temari gut-hated them both on principal, though she is vaguely aware that it's unfair to Ino for her to be so angry for no good reason. But Shikamaru has reason enough — was it just her imagination, or had he been kind-of-sort-of _flirting _with her the past week? She laughs bitterly, a humorless, painful sound, echoing dimly in her empty apartment; how could she honestly be so stupid? Only now she sees the truth.

Temari rubs her temples again, groaning and curling her knees to her chest. The hollow feeling inside her grows, consuming, but Temari only knows one way to exert it, and that's anger. She stays wound up in a ball though, refusing to move, her mind and temper fixed on the days occurrences, creating herself into a deadly ticking time bomb. She might have stayed in that same position for hours before she hears someone outside her door. She knows it's him by his signature sounds: Three short knocks on the front door, then he scuffles his feet, then he sighs loudly. So recognizable she would have known it anywhere.

Leaping up and wrenching open the door with unnecessary force, Temari comes face to face with the stupidest, laziest, most idiotic person she's ever met in her entire life. Anger boils inside her again, the hollow feeling gone, and there's just pure, rushing irritation, just by looking at his slouching posture, his half-closed eyes, and his awful sideways smile that makes her stomach swoop. She wants to smack that stupid grin off his face, partly because it's too handsome to properly belong there. Especially when _Ino _had been kissing those lips.

"_What_?" she snaps, vaguely realizing her hands are shaking on her hips.

"What 'what'?" Shikamaru repeats dully, unsurprised by her attitude. "We're supposed to go to dinner this evening—sorry, I forgot until now. But it's customary that I take you out to see the city every once in a while. Since I'm your guide and everything." He shrugs. "Not like you have anything to do anyway. Are we going, then?"

Temari stiffens automatically. He has the nerve to ask her to dinner when he's got a ruddy girlfriend? Who he makes out with in the ruddy park _right in front of her ruddy face_?

"Absolutely not," she spits, crossing her arms in futile attempt to stop her livid trembling. "You have a _girlfriend_."

"Uh." Now he seems surprised; his eyebrows arch up and his mouth slopes downward in a look of dumb confusion. "I do?"

Temari clenches her jaw; she's so angry her nails are digging into her arms. "Ino," she whispers through gritted teeth.

"Oh," Shikamaru says, dumbfounded. But that's all it takes.

"OH?" Temari yelps, leaping forward as vexation ripples through her. Shikamaru steps backward in shock, stumbling but catching himself before he falls. "_Oh_? Is that _all_ you have to say? You give me those charming conversations and those goddamn smiles every time you see me, but then you have a girlfriend, you don't even _tell me about her_, and all you have to say is '_oh_'?"

Furious, Temari rips out her fan and slashes it through the air; Shikamaru goes flying back several yards, and when he lands on his back he makes a strangled noise that Temari feels no sympathy for. She swings her fan again, causing windows all down the street to rattle and the dirt particles to fly up in clouds of tan colored dust.

"You bastard!" she screeches, "Why the _hell _would you think I'd want to go to dinner with you after _that_?"

"Temari — " Shikamaru coughs as he tries to sit up. Temari towers over him, vehement, her fan hitched dangerously by her side. "Temari, I'm not — I'm not dating Ino — "

Temari lifts her fan threateningly. "Don't lie! I saw you two sucking face in the park not two hours ago!"

"I'm not lying," Shikamaru yells hastily, scrambling to his feet before Temari can do anything lethal. "It's true! It's true. You probably saw her kissing Kiba. That's her boyfriend. I mean, for this week, at least."

Temari freezes where she stands. She saw Ino kissing _Kiba_? The _dog_? "Are you kidding me?" she says in dim disbelief; her senses grow slightly numb, anger fading to a dull drum in her ears, so shocked she seems to have suddenly shut down. Here she is, in the middle of the street, yelling her head off at Shikamaru because he's seeing another woman and flirting with _her_ at the same time only to find out that she's _wrong_. Suddenly her emotions are all out on the table and she's sure that Shikamaru's highly developed brain is able to see underneath all this anger at how she really feels about him.

Stunned (and effectively silenced), Temari looks down at her feet; she's much too embarrassed to meet his eyes. Now that she thinks about it, it's probably very obvious. And she absolutely hates that. The thought is almost enough to make her hit the bastard standing right in front of her with her fan again.

"No, I'm not kidding," Shikamaru answers firmly, brushing dust off his shoulders and straightening Chuunin vest purposefully. "Now…" he clears his throat, and then puts on one of those handsome-yet-dopey smiles that Temari just loathes, "what were you saying about me being charming?"

* * *

_Author's Note: _No, I don't know how Temari could have possibly gotten Shikamaru and Kiba mixed up (especially with Shikamaru's distinctive hairstyle) but he was the only one I could think of who also had brown hair and who I liked best with Ino. Yay. (Rofl. I like Ino/Kiba AND Tema/Kiba. Hahaha. Kiba's like my all-purpose character.)

I mulled over the possibility of this setting for Envy, but decided it was better for Wrath instead, because (though Temari does betray her jealousy in this) she's more angry at Shikamaru than she is jealous of Ino. Those two sins are so closely interwoven; it's hard to differentiate sometimes. But it's there. See? She's angry at Shikamaru for being a jerk. Not jealous at Ino. Seeee?

Up next: **Sloth**. How to make Temari be slothy, hmm…


	11. Sloth II

**04. Sloth**

Sunlight wafts in yellow porcelain waves through the small gap in the curtains, but it's enough to brighten the room up, if just barely. Dust swirls around the morning air where the light touches it; Temari blinks her eyes open, slowly at first, and then more rapidly as she realizes where she is — and where she is is _not _where she should be upon the early waking of the morning.

Abruptly she sits up, and just as abruptly she realizes that she's topless. Startled, she yanks the covers up to her chin, looking around to wonder if anyone saw. But the only person who would even be _there _to see is lying right next to her on his back, his head turned to the side.

Temari settles back into the bed, the soft sheets, and looks at Shikamaru as he sleeps. His hair is down, soft and thin; it's splayed out on his pillow like a tangled spider web. With one hand she feels her own hair (still keeping the green comforter pulled firmly to her chin), which, bedridden and knotted, is absolutely ridiculous right now. Her hand retreats underneath the covers and creeps toward him until she finds the warm flesh of his abdomen; she realizes that he's naked too.

_What happened last night?_

She struggles to remember. Well, she can _clearly _remember what happened in this _bed _last night, but everything before that is a blur; there was dinner, and a walk, and then… how did she get here? She couldn't quite remember. It had happened so quickly that now, as she tries to reformulate the scene in her mind, all she gets are half broken images of Shikamaru's dark polished-stone eyes, his mouth curving into that all-knowing, familiar smirk, his hands on her hips, his mouth warm on hers. And somehow, all of that lead to her coiled on the left side of his bed, completely naked and somehow simultaneously exhausted and refreshed. As she yawns, she realizes that she must have only been asleep for those few hours before dawn broke, because she's still incredibly tired.

Cautiously, Temari inches herself closer to Shikamaru's slumbering form. Curling next to him, it strikes Temari that if she lies very, very still, she can feel his deep, rumbling breathing reverberate through him, and in turn, through her. Slowly, she manages to get her own breath in sync with his, and in the soft morning light, she tries to drift back to sleep. Shikamaru shows no sign of waking for a few more solid hours, so why move when she could just stay here, in his bed, wrapped around him? It's so much easier just to stay put. So much easier, and so much more enjoyable.

For the next few hours, Temari drifts in and out of sleep, hearing the noise of an awakening thump from downstairs and the sounds of birds twittering outside the window. Some moments she's conscious and some moments she's barely hanging on, trying to slip unnoticed back into slumber before she absolutely _has _to wake up. Outside the sun rises steadily, but inside this room, time freezes, the golden glow of the morning standing still, waiting for the two to arouse themselves from their siesta.

During one of her half-awake-half-asleep moments, she vaguely feels Shikamaru stirring next to her. Through partially closed eyes she watches him yawn and roll over to face her, his calloused hands finding the curve of her hip thoughtlessly..

"Morning," he mumbles incoherently into her hair. He still hasn't opened his eyes yet, but she can tell he's no longer asleep because his breathing is no longer deep and even. But she melds into him anyway, noting how her body and his body simply blend together so seamlessly. If he has no intention of moving, then she's perfectly content to stay in this warm bed with him all day if she can. They could just lay there and be lazy, and for once in her life, she doesn't think she'd mind it if they did.

* * *

_Author's Note: _I'm very attached to this piece for some reason. I think that's the only time in her life Temari would let herself be lethargic.

Up next: **Greed**.


End file.
